Happy people don’t hate.
People who are satisfied or at least optimistic about their own lives spend very little time angry with other people. They devote very little effort trying to make other people unhappy, and they lose very little sleep thinking about what might have been.
There were two terms popular when I was a child in the 1950s that are seen in a derisive fashion now. I have written about one of them before and the other is one I haven’t considered in many years.
The words — “kumbaya” and “Pollyanna” — are related peripherally. The first is from a spiritual and invites God to come by us and help us strive to be better. Cynical modern-day Americans suggest that there isn’t much that could be dumber than that, but if we don’t ask to be better, it isn’t going to happen.
As for “Pollyanna,” it was a 1913 novel filmed numerous times about a young girl who moved to a town where nearly everyone was unhappy. Her own life is hardly without woes. But she chooses to live her life in a completely upbeat and positive way, and she transforms the lives of all those around her.
Eleanor Porter’s book is considered a children’s classic and was made into a Disney movie starring Hayley Mills in 1960. That’s the memory most of us have of the story.
Do you know anyone remotely like Pollyanna, someone who sees the good in everyone and the positive in every situation?
I certainly don’t, although we have to accept that she is an ideal. Try to picture yourself living through even one day without a single negative feeling about anything in your life.
Live in a crummy place? Hey, at least you have a place.
Don’t have enough to eat? At least you have something.
Try to picture yourself getting through even one day without negative feelings toward any other person in your life. If you’re a liberal, imagine no anger or scorn toward conservatives. Imagine not wasting one moment thinking about Donald Trump.
And when he does cross your mind, imagine thinking how much worse things might me.
Imagine refusing to hate.
Imagine seeing that anyone or anything you hate does far more damage to you yourself than it does to the object of your anger.
Live your life one day at a time. Wake up tomorrow promising yourself to be Pollyanna today.
And tomorrow.
Be serious about it. You’re the one who’ll win.